New Testament in Apostolic Time

What is the New Testament? This is a value that is absolutely precisely defined for us. The New Testament consists of 27 sacred books: four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, seven conciliar epistles, fourteen epistles of the Apostle Paul and the Apocalypse. All these books are in our New Testament and are always located in the same specific order. But all these New Testament books appeared at different times, written by different persons in different places in the universe of that time, written sometimes for individual people, sometimes for entire Churches, and sometimes for the entire Church of Christ. In the history of the apostolic times, we do not see such a case when the apostles, having gathered together, compiled a list of all the Gospels and messages they wrote and in this very form and composition legitimized the New Testament for all times. Nothing like this happened not only in apostolic times, but even in subsequent centuries. Church writers until the end of the 2nd century did not talk about the composition of the New Testament. They, along with the Old Testament writings, use the Scriptures and the New Testament, sometimes cite many individual verses from almost all New Testament books, reproach heretics, like Marcion, for rejecting certain apostolic writings, talk about the writing of various New Testament books by certain historical persons, but at the same time, in the church literature of the 2nd century we do not find special discussions about the composition of the New Testament in its entirety, not We come across accurate and detailed lists of New Testament books. If so, then the composition of the New Testament was determined already in church history and was determined by the church consciousness and even the critical thought of individual church leaders, until the composition of the New Testament was established as a generally binding church canon. The history of the definition of the New Testament canon is one of the departments of the history of general church life. However, church historical sources of the 1st and 2nd centuries contain almost nothing for the history of the New Testament canon. From the 2nd century we have predominantly apologetic and polemical literature. The apologists wrote for the pagans, and they had no need to talk about the composition of the Christian sacred books. The heretics, against whom church writers of the 2nd century conducted polemics, did not so much reject the sacred books as distort their text and reinterpret their content, using a convenient allegorical method. Other heretics (for example: Alogians, Marcionites) rejected some specific New Testament books, and therefore church writers defended the apostolic origin of only these individual books. However, there is no doubt that the New Testament sacred books began to be collected back in apostolic times. The New Testament itself tells us about this. In the New Testament we clearly see some kind of successive chain through which Divine revelation was transmitted and spread. God the Father, Jesus Christ, the apostles - these are the links in this chain, inextricably linked with each other. Christ was sent (see: Matthew 15:24; Luke 4:43); He was a Messenger (see: Heb. 3:1). Having appeared to His disciples after the resurrection, the Lord says: As the Father has sent Me, so I send you (John 20:21). Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). Even earlier, out of many disciples, Christ chose... twelve, whom he named Apostles (Luke 6:13). Both in the New Testament and in ancient church literature, the word “twelve” (δάδεκα) is a technical term that designates a very specific and exceptional quantity - the twelve apostles, the closest successors of the Lord. The Evangelist John says about Thomas that he is one of the twelve (John 20:24), although there were only eleven apostles at that time. From this certain number Judas fell away to go to his place (Acts. 1:25), although earlier, according to the word of the Apostle Peter, he was numbered among the apostles and received the lot of apostolic ministry (Acts 1:17). Soon after the Ascension of the Lord, the apostles take care that the number twelve will be complete again. But one cannot elect and appoint one as an apostle: there must be a special Divine election and mission. The disciples appointed those who were with them the entire time the Lord Jesus stayed and spoke with them - Barsabas and Matthias; and they prayed and said: You, Lord, knower of the hearts of all, show of these two one whom You have chosen to accept the lot of this ministry and Apostleship... And they cast lots for them (Acts 1:21, 23-26). Apostleship is presented here as an exceptional service, which can only be assigned to by the Lord Himself. That is why the Apostle Paul always, in confirmation of his apostolic dignity, refers to the fact that he was appointed an apostle (1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11), when on the way to Damascus he fell to the ground as a persecutor Saul, and stood up as the Apostle Paul to be a witness of the Lord before all people (see: Acts 22:6 ff.). Paul became an apostle because he heard from the Lord Himself: Go; I will send you far to the Gentiles (Acts 22:21). That is why the Apostle Paul begins many of his epistles by pointing out that he is a called Apostle (Rom. 1:1; 1 Cor. 1:1), an apostle by the will of God (2 Cor. 1:1; Eph. 1:1; Col. 1:1; 2 Tim. 1:1), chosen not by men or through man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father (Gal. 1, 1). Paul received the apostleship from Christ Himself, so that in His name he could subdue all nations to the faith (Rom. 1:5). As an apostle, he has value and significance (see: 1 Thessalonians 2:7). Thus, in the New Testament the title of “apostle of the twelve” is of utmost importance. In the church consciousness, the Apostle Paul is, as it were, numbered among the “twelve.” This was even reflected in the iconography. In the established iconographic type of communion, the Lord teaches His Body and Blood to the apostles, who approach the throne from both sides. The Apostle Peter is the first to approach on the right, and the Apostle Paul is on the left, although Paul was not in the Upper Room of Zion. In this image, for many centuries, it has been emphasized that Paul is the same apostle as the others chosen by the Lord Himself during His earthly life. Thus, the apostolic face of the “twelve” is a unique, exceptional, non-recurring phenomenon in the Christian Church. Hence the exclusive and, so to speak, law-defining authority of the apostles in the field of teaching and church structure for all centuries. In the New Testament we see that the apostles teach and preach with full consciousness of their exclusive and indisputable authority. “I remind you, brethren,” writes the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, “of the gospel which I preached to you, which you received, in which you stood, and by which you are saved, if you keep what was taught as I preached to you (1 Cor. 15:1-2). The Apostle Paul exhorts Timothy to adhere to the example of sound teaching that he heard from him (2 Tim. 1:13). If... An angel from heaven began to preach the gospel... not like... the apostles preached the gospel, let him be anathema (Gal. 1:8). The Apostle Paul recognizes himself as having the right to test the teaching of those who became proud and, obviously, began to preach something of their own (see: 1 Cor. 4:19). The apostles could not remain on earth forever, but their unshakable authority in the Church of Christ must remain forever. At the end of his life, the Apostle Paul with a prophetic gaze already sees that the time of his departure has come, that he has already completed his course and is preparing for him... a crown of righteousness from the Righteous Judge (2 Tim. 4:6-8). The Spirit clearly spoke to the apostle that in recent times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons (1 Tim. 4:1). Many false prophets have appeared in the world (1 John 4:1). Evil people and deceivers will prosper in evil, leading astray and being deceived (2 Tim. 3:13). How to avoid misconception? We must adhere to the apostolic teaching. But continue in what you have been taught and entrusted to you, knowing by whom you were taught (2 Tim. 3:14). Oh, Timofey! keep what is given to you (1 Tim. 6:20). But in one of his first letters, the Apostle Paul inspires the entire Church: Brethren! Stand firm and keep the traditions which you have been taught either by word or by our message (2 Thess. 2:15). Consequently, the apostle gives full doctrinal authority to his epistle. There is no difference between the personality of an apostle and his message. As we are in words in letters in absentia, such are we in reality personally (2 Cor. 10:11). Everyone should know the apostolic epistles. I conjure you,” the apostle writes to the Thessalonians, “to read this message to all the holy brethren (1 Thessalonians 5:27). If anyone does not listen to our words in this epistle, take note of him and do not communicate with him in order to shame him (2 Thessalonians 3:14). If the apostle instilled in Christians such a lofty concept of his messages, then, of course, the messages for Christians devoted to the apostle should have received exceptional significance and indisputable authority, which the apostle himself had, who revived them with the word of his gospel. Indeed, the apostolic epistles received such authority. We know that the Thessalonians were confused by the message, as if written by an apostle (see: 2 Thessalonians 2:2). There was a forged message, inscribed with the name of Paul. This incident shows that from the very beginning the apostolic epistles were made a doctrinal authority in the Christian consciousness; even false teachers tried to support their preaching with a counterfeit apostolic letter. They always counterfeit something valuable and authoritative. Realizing the harm that counterfeit messages can bring, the Apostle Paul even takes some measures to protect his messages from forgery. He provides his messages written by someone else's hand, for example Tertius (see: Rom. 16:22), with his own signature. Greetings with my hand, Paul's (Col. 4:18). Greeting with my hand, Paul's, which serves as a sign in every epistle; I write this: the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all (2 Thess. 3:17-18). Likewise, the Apocalypse ends with a spell not to add anything and not to take anything away from the words of the book of prophecy (see: Rev. 22, 18-19). Like the Apostle Paul, other New Testament writers are fully aware that they are writing something very important and necessary for the Christian Church. Saint Luke writes his Gospel so that from it they can learn the solid foundation of the teaching in which they are instructed (Luke 1:4). The Apostle John writes for people to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and, believing, to have life in His name (John 20:31). His testimony is true, as the testimony of a disciple and eyewitness (see: John 21, 24; 1 John 1, 1–3). It is quite natural and understandable that the apostolic writings were not just correspondence with temporary and fleeting significance. No, these were monuments of faith and treasures of truth, which Christians treated as precious treasures. They were not only received with love, read with attention, and kept with reverence, but, which is especially important for us, they were distributed. There was a mutual exchange of apostolic letters between the Christian Churches. The Apostle Paul even legitimizes this exchange. When this epistle,” he writes to the Colossians, “is read among you, then order that it be read in the Laodicean church; and you too read the one from Laodicea (Col. 4:16). Yes, many New Testament books were written either for a number of Churches (conciliar epistles, Apocalypse), or for all Christians (the Gospels). There is nothing incredible in the fact that during the mutual exchange of messages in individual Churches, they made lists of them, which they kept for themselves and kept them together. In this way, collections of New Testament books could gradually be compiled in the Churches. The following words of the Apostle Peter are very remarkable in this regard: Consider the longsuffering of our Lord to be salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul, according to the date of his wisdom, wrote to you, as he speaks about this in all his epistles, in which there are some things difficult to understand, which the ignorant and unstable, like other Scriptures, twist to their own destruction (2 Pet. 3:15-16). The Apostle Peter writes this to the Asia Minor Christians of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia (see: 1 Pet. 1, 1; 2 Pet. 3, 1). The Apostle Paul did not write any letters to some of these provinces. However, the Apostle Peter finds it possible to talk about all the messages, assuming that they are known to everyone, not individually in those Churches that received them, but are known in the whole assembly. The collection of Paul's epistles was also known to the Apostle Peter, although none of the epistles was written for him personally. In addition, from the words of the Apostle Peter it is clearly evident what high authority the collections of Paul's epistles had for the Christian Churches. They were addressed as an authority, they were carefully read, they were interpreted, and others reinterpreted them, wanting to confirm their false opinions with the words of the apostle. In short, Paul's epistles were treated as Scripture. The Apostle Peter himself puts Paul's epistles on a par with other writings. Scripture, Γραφή is a defined concept in the New Testament: this is the name of the Old Testament Holy Scripture, which the Apostle Paul calls inspired (see: 2 Tim. 3:16). Thus, from the words of the Apostle Peter, we can see that the letters of the Apostle Paul were distributed, collected and revered as Holy Scripture. It was no different, of course, with other apostolic writings. But, of course, the composition of the New Testament could not be completely the same in all Churches. The exchange of sacred books, of course, was especially developed in neighboring Churches; The messages did not reach the distant Churches immediately and not soon. Therefore, it must be thought that in some Churches in apostolic times the collection of New Testament books was more complete, in others it was less complete and even not complete at all. In apostolic times, the Church of Ephesus was in especially favorable conditions for the complete collection of New Testament writings, in which Timothy, the disciple and co-worker of the Apostle Paul, and the holy Apostle John the Theologian lived and worked for a long time. With the assistance and under the supervision of the beloved disciple of the Lord and the beloved disciple of the Apostle Paul, the New Testament was compiled in the Church of Ephesus. Timothy was not only the companion of the Apostle Paul, but also his collaborator in the oral and written gospel. On his second evangelistic journey, the Apostle Paul met Timothy, to whom the brethren testified... in Lystra and Iconium (Acts 16:2). Timothy Loyd's grandmother and his mother Eunice were also distinguished by their unfeigned faith (see: 2 Timothy 1:5). It is especially important for us that, under the guidance of his pious mother, Timothy learned the Holy Scriptures from an early age (see: 2 Tim. 3:15), which, therefore, were always part of his immediate interests. From the very beginning of Timothy's collaboration, we see that the Apostle Paul involves him in his evangelistic ministry. In Athens, the Apostle Paul learns about the sorrows of the Christians of Thessalonica and sends to them his brother and servant of God and his co-worker in the gospel of Christ, Timothy, so that he would strengthen them and comfort them (see: 1 Thess. 3, 1-2). Paul was already in Corinth when Timothy returned to him (Acts 18:5) and brought him good news about the faith and love of the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 3:6). Soon the Apostle Paul writes his First Epistle to the Thessalonians and writes it not only on his own behalf, but also on behalf of Silouan and Timothy (see: 1 Thessalonians 1:1). After some time, having learned that the Thessalonians were concerned about the time of the Second Coming, the Apostle Paul wrote them another message on this issue. In the very first line of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians we again see the names of Silvanus and Timothy (see: 2 Thessalonians 1:1). During his third evangelistic journey, the Apostle Paul also took advantage of Timothy's cooperation. Having been engaged in the work of preaching in Ephesus for a long time, the Apostle Paul sends Timothy to Macedonia (Acts 19:22) and to Corinth. “I have sent,” the Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians, “to you Timothy, my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church (1 Cor. 4:17). If Timothy comes to you, see that he is safe with you; for he is doing the Lord’s work, just as I do. Therefore, let no one despise it, but spend it in peace (1 Cor. 16:10-11). Leaving Ephesus after the indignation of the pagans led by Demetrius the silversmith, the Apostle Paul went to Macedonia, from where he writes the Second Epistle to the Corinthians and at the beginning of this letter he puts the name of Timothy next to his name (see: 2 Cor. 1, 1). By the way, in this letter, the Apostle Paul recalls his sermon in Corinth and says that Jesus Christ was preached in Corinth not only by him, but also by Silvanus and Timothy (2 Cor. 1:19). The Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans dates back to the same time. In this letter, the Apostle Paul sends greetings from his colleague Timothy (see: Rom. 16:21). We then see Timothy near the Apostle Paul during his Roman imprisonment. From Rome, the Apostle Paul sends Timothy to Macedonia, to Philippi. I hope,” the apostle wrote to the Philippians, “to soon send Timothy to you, so that I, having learned about your circumstances, may be comforted in spirit. For I have no one equally diligent who would so sincerely care about you, because everyone is looking for their own, and not what is pleasing to Jesus Christ. And you know his faithfulness, because he, like a son to his father, served me in the gospel. So I hope to send him as soon as I find out what will happen to me (Phil. 2:19-23). We see the name of Timothy in the inscriptions of the letters compiled in Roman bonds - to the Philippians (see: Phil. 1, 1), to the Colossians (see: Col. 1, 1) and to Philemon (see: Phil. 1, 1). In addition, the name of Timothy is mentioned in the Epistle to the Hebrews (see: Hebrews 13:23). Finally, the Apostle Paul entrusted Timothy with the highest leadership of the Ephesian Church (see: 1 Tim. 1, 3) and gave him the pastoral gift according to prophecy with the laying on of hands of the priesthood (1 Tim. 4, 14). The apostle personally writes to him two pastoral letters, very important for church structure and deanery. Such was Timothy's participation in the evangelistic activities of the Apostle Paul. Many of the letters of the Apostle Paul were written with some participation from Timothy; at the beginning of these letters there is the name of Timothy. These are the First and Second Thessalonians, the Second Corinthians, the Philippians, the Colossians and Philemon. In others the apostle mentions Timothy and gives a very cordial and commendable review of him. These are the epistles - First to the Corinthians, to the Romans and to the Hebrews. If Timothy was a selflessly devoted disciple of the great apostle, he, of course, followed everything the apostle did with love and perfect attention. Timothy could not have been unaware of some message. All the messages of the great apostle were for Timothy precious monuments of the apostolic preaching. Paul's letters were especially dear to Timothy because they reflected his personal closeness to the Apostle Paul. Every student always follows what his favorite teacher writes, gets acquainted with his writings, collects them and carefully stores them. We have the right to assume exactly the same thing regarding Timothy. There is nothing unnatural in the assumption that Timothy kept for himself lists of those messages that were written in his presence and in which his name was mentioned. The Apostle Paul has nine such epistles. To this number it is necessary to add two more pastoral letters of the Apostle Paul, written to Timothy himself. In Ephesus, of course, the letter of the Apostle Paul, written to the Ephesians themselves, was kept, and this letter was undoubtedly known to Timothy, as the primate of the Church of Ephesus. Galatians may also have been known in Ephesus. After all, it was written to one of the churches neighboring Ephesus, and given the mutual exchange of messages between the Churches, it could not have been unknown in Ephesus, this center of all life in Asia Minor. There remains one letter to Titus. But this message in its content is very close to the First Epistle to Timothy and contains very important instructions for Timothy on how to act in the house of God. Being himself in a position similar to that of Titus, Timothy could not help but be interested in the instructions that the Apostle Paul taught in his letter to Titus. Thus, it is very likely, if not certain, that Pavlov’s collaborator Timothy, at the time when he stood at the head of the Church of Ephesus, had a complete collection of the letters of the Apostle Paul, which served as a source of edification not only for Timothy, but for the entire Ephesian Church. But Timothy was not the only one who was the companion and collaborator of the Apostle Paul. Around the Apostle Paul there was, as it were, a closely united circle of his closest disciples and collaborators. Undoubtedly, the members of this circle not only knew each other closely, but were also connected by the bonds of that high friendship that unites people selflessly devoted to one great and holy cause. The Apostle Paul's co-workers were not unlearned people. After all, he himself was raised at the feet of the famous Gamaliel (see: Acts 22:3). It is especially important for us that in this particular circle of people united around the Apostle Paul there were two more writers of New Testament books, so that most of the New Testament came from this particular circle of preachers. With the Apostle Paul was Luke, his colleague (see: Phil. 1, 23), his beloved physician (Col. 4, 14), perhaps useful to him, who needed medical art, so devoted to him that one remained with him even when others (Demas, Crescent, Titus) left him, loving the present age (2 Tim. 4, 10). This Luke owns the two most significant New Testament books in terms of volume - the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, these are, as it were, two parts of one historical scripture, dedicated to the sovereign Theophilus. Christian antiquity always saw the preaching of the Apostle Paul in the Gospel of Luke and considered the books written by Luke to be based on the authority of the Apostle of Languages. When speaking about the Gospel of Luke, it was always mentioned that he was the inseparable companion of Paul, who in Acts, starting from chapter 10, verse 16, narrates the story in the first person plural (we) 1 . The Third Gospel and the book of Acts were, as it were, attributed to the Apostle Paul himself 2 because they were approved by Paul and written for Gentile believers 3 . In the words of the Apostle Paul: according to my gospel (2 Tim. 2, 8: κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον) - they saw a mention of the Gospel of Luke 4. If we take all this into account, then it is impossible not to assume that the writings of Luke should have been in the hands of Timothy: they were dear to him not only as the works of a co-worker united with him by bonds of personal spiritual friendship and loving devotion to a common teacher - the apostle, but also especially as monuments to the life and evangelistic activity of his spiritual father, who so decisively changed and directed his whole life along a new path. In addition to Luke, in the circle of Paul’s colleagues we also see another New Testament writer - Mark 5. And this New Testament writer had a close personal relationship with Timothy. The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy: Try to come to me quickly... Take Mark and bring him with you, for I need him for ministry (2 Tim. 4:9, 11). Consequently, Mark spent some time with Timothy in Ephesus, where, undoubtedly, he formed a spiritual connection with the entire Ephesian Church. Given such relations between Mark and the Ephesian Church and its primate, of course, the Gospel he wrote would soon join the collection of New Testament sacred books that was compiled there under the leadership of Timothy. But Mark and Silouan were also with the Apostle Peter for some time. Even during the persecution of Herod Agrippa I against Christians in Jerusalem, the Apostle Peter was a welcome guest and, as it were, his own person in the house of Mark’s mother (see: Acts 12, 12 et seq.). The Apostle Peter calls Mark “my son” (1 Pet. 5:13), when he writes a greeting on his behalf in his First Epistle. And the Apostle Peter wrote this very letter through Silvanus (1 Pet. 5:12), with whom Timothy worked together in Corinth (see: 2 Cor. 1:19). Again it is clear that this New Testament book also has a close relationship with Timothy. However, regardless of personal relationships, Peter’s epistle should have been in Ephesus. Peter writes his letter to the chosen strangers of the dispersion - Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. But the main city of the Asian province was Ephesus. The second epistle of the Apostle Peter was written to the same readers as the first; it was the second for its readers (see: 2 Pet. 3, 1). Consequently, the Second Epistle of the Apostle Peter was immediately included in the collection of New Testament books of the Ephesian Church. The content of the small Epistle of the Apostle Jude comes very close to the Second Epistle of Peter, where the same false teachers are exposed as in the Epistle of Peter 6. Perhaps it was intended for approximately the same circle of readers as the Second Epistle of Peter. Consequently, in its spread it did not escape Ephesus. The Epistle of the Apostle James was written to the Jews of the Diaspora. From the history of the activities of the Apostle Paul in Ephesus, we know that there were many Jews there, in whose synagogue the apostle preached fearlessly for three months (see: Acts 19: 8, 10, 17). In his farewell conversation with the Ephesian elders, the Apostle Paul himself recalls his sermon in Ephesus to the Jews and Greeks and the temptations that befell him due to the malicious intent of the Jews (Acts 20:19). Again we have reason to assume that the Epistle of James was also in Ephesus. Thus, having examined the mutual relations of prominent persons of the apostolic time and taking into account the circumstances of the origin of various New Testament books, we come to a very natural conclusion: in Ephesus, in the hands of the primate of the Ephesian Church Timothy, there were up to 21 books of the New Testament (the Gospel of Mark and Luke, Acts, fourteen Pauline epistles and four from the conciliar). Until the end of the 1st century, the beloved disciple of the Lord, the apostle and evangelist John the Theologian, lived in Ephesus. No matter how much and for whatever reasons the Ephesian sojourn of John the Theologian is disputed, the tradition about him is firmly and completely reliably attested. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, in a letter to Florinus, recalls how Polycarp of Smyrna spoke about his personal treatment of the Apostle John in Asia Minor 7. Irenaeus himself quite definitely says that the Apostle John was in Ephesus before the time of Trajan 8, where he wrote his Gospel 9. Clement of Alexandria in his essay “Which Rich Man Will Be Saved?” reports a well-known story about a young man who became a robber and was again returned to the Church by the Apostle John. And this was not far from Ephesus, from which the apostle left to visit nearby areas 10. Eusebius of Caesarea considers it sufficient to cite only these testimonies in order to confirm the long-term stay of the apostle in Asia 11 . In disputes about Easter, Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, referred to the tradition that came down from John, who was a confessor and teacher and was buried in Ephesus 12. According to Tertullian's conviction, Polycarp of Smyrna was appointed bishop by John 13. Blessed Jerome writes that the Apostle John remained in Ephesus until the reign of Trajan, established and ruled all the Asian Churches and, having reached a very old age, died in the sixty-eighth year after the Lord’s passion and was buried near the same city 14. But if the holy Apostle John the Theologian lived in Ephesus for a long time and if there he, as St. Irenaeus says, wrote his Gospel 15, then this convincingly tells us that in Ephesus there were already the first three Gospels, to which the Apostle John added his and, thus, completed the canon of the four Gospels. The Gospel of John assumes that the first three synoptic Gospels are already available; it is only, as it were, additional in relation to them. This is exactly how Christian antiquity looked at it. Origen says that the Gospel of John was written last 16. Clement of Alexandria also said the same thing, setting out in his “Hypotyposes” the tradition of the most ancient presbyters regarding the order of the Gospels. According to this legend, first those Gospels were written that contain the genealogy of Jesus Christ, then the Gospel of Mark. “And the last of the evangelists, John, noticing that in the Gospels only bodily things were announced, according to the conviction of his neighbors and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he wrote the spiritual Gospel” 17. Eusebius of Caesarea writes about the Gospel of John: “The ancients very thoroughly gave it fourth place after the other three. ... When the three previously written Gospels were distributed among everyone and reached John, he, they say, undertook to give his testimony about their truth, except that in those writings there is a lack of narration about the deeds performed by Christ at first and at the beginning of the sermon. This is indeed true. It is easy to understand that the other three evangelists, having described the deeds of the Savior performed by Him during the year from the time John the Baptist was imprisoned, took only this as the beginning of their story. And indeed, Matthew begins his story with the time of the forty-day fast and the temptation that then occurred, saying: Hearing... that John had been betrayed, he withdrew (from Judea) to Galilee (Matthew 4:12). The same with Mark: According to the tradition of John, Jesus came to Galilee (Mk 1:14). Luke also signifies a time close to this when, without even beginning to describe the deeds of Jesus, he says: He added to everything else (the lawless things he had done) that he put John in prison (Luke 3:20). Therefore, they say, they began to ask the Apostle John to describe in his Gospel (τῷ κατ ’ αὐτὸν εὐαγγελί ῳ παραδοῦναι) the time about which the previous evangelists were silent, and depicted the deeds of the Savior relating to that time (that is, before the Baptist was imprisoned). This is exactly what John points to when he says: Thus Jesus began the miracles (John 2:11), and again, when, among the narration of the deeds of Jesus, he mentions the Baptist that he baptizes in Aenon, near Salem (John 3:23). This is also clear from his following words: For John was not yet imprisoned (John 3:24). So, in his gospel writing, John talks about the deeds performed by Christ when the Baptist was not yet imprisoned, while the other three evangelists mention the events that happened after his prison bonds. ... Therefore, it was natural for John to remain silent about the genealogy of the Savior according to the flesh, which Matthew and Luke had previously set forth, and to begin with the theology revealed to him by the Spirit of God, as the most excellent” 18. Blessed Jerome says something similar: “John the Apostle... after all the other evangelists, he wrote the Gospel at the request of the Asian bishops against Cerinthos and other heretics, and especially against the false teaching of the Ebionites, which intensified at that time, who taught that Christ did not exist before Mary. This is why he was called to speak in his Gospel about His pre-eternal birth from God the Father. But they also indicate another reason for writing this Gospel. When he read the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, although he approved the text of their history and admitted that what they said was true, he at the same time testified that they set out the history of only one year of the Lord’s earthly life, in which He suffered, that is, the events that followed the imprisonment of John (the Baptist). Therefore, omitting the year, the events of which are described by the three evangelists, he told the events of the previous time, before John was imprisoned, which will be obvious to those who carefully read the four books of the Gospels” 19. We can therefore conclude that even before John wrote the Gospel in Ephesus, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke had already been collected together. Christians read them and noticed their lack of completeness. Evangelist John, with his “spiritual” Gospel, supplemented the synoptic story and concluded the canon of the four Gospels. Thus, the canon of the four Gospels, the “fourfold Gospel” (τετράμορφον t ὸ εὐαγγέλιον), which St. Irenaeus of Lyons later spoke about 20, was originally compiled in Ephesus and was compiled immediately after the writing of the fourth Gospel. If the Apostle John the Theologian lived in Ephesus for a long time, then in the Church of Ephesus, of course, before anywhere else, other writings of the Apostle of Love were included in the New Testament canon: three epistles and the Apocalypse. The first of John's conciliar epistles can be considered as a preface to his Gospel. In it one can see, as it were, the last commandments and instructions of the elderly apostle to his “children,” as he calls the readers, 21 showing his close personal relationship with them. These were the same Ephesians and other Asia Minor Christians. The Second and Third Epistles of John were written to individuals who lived somewhere near Ephesus, since the apostle was going to visit them personally (see: 2 John 1:12; 3 John 1:14). The Apostle John far outlived the other apostles. For a long time he remained the only eyewitness of the life and work of Jesus Christ among the new generation. It is quite clear that everything that came out from under his cane was kept safe in Ephesus and its environs. As for the Apocalypse, it has a direct relation to the Church of Ephesus: among the seven separate short messages that fill the second and third chapters of the Apocalypse, there is a special message to the Angel (bishop?) of the Church of Ephesus (see: Rev. 2, 1-7), and this message comes first, of course, not without reason. Thus, the long-term stay in Ephesus of Paul’s collaborator and accomplice in his evangelistic oral and written activities - Timothy and the beloved disciple of the Lord, the apostle and evangelist John the Theologian, created especially favorable conditions in the Ephesian Church for all the sacred books of the New Testament to be gathered in it before anywhere else in the Church. We examined all the books of the New Testament, and it turned out that for each of them it can be assumed that she was in Ephesus at the very first time. Here, therefore, the New Testament was formed in apostolic times, perhaps consisting of all 27 books known to us. From here, from Ephesus, the sacred books were distributed to other Churches. Is not a distant trace of this distribution of sacred books from Ephesus preserved in the apocryphal monument “The Teachings of Addai”? This rather ancient monument speaks of the founding of the Syrian Church. According to this monument, Addai, in his farewell speech to his successor Haggai and other clergy, among the Scriptures that should be read in churches and in which alone the truth is written, also names “The Acts of the Twelve Apostles, sent from Ephesus by John the son of Zebedee.” In this message of the apocryphal monument one can see an echo of a real historical fact - the borrowing of some New Testament books from Ephesus by the Syrian Church. The abundance of sacred New Testament books in Ephesus, perhaps, contributed to the fact that the Church of Ephesus at the end of the apostolic and at the beginning of post-apostolic times was firm in the true faith and clean from heretical errors. To the Angel of the Church of Ephesus, the Seer writes approval for the fact that he cannot tolerate the depraved, tests those who call themselves apostles, and hates the deeds of the Nicolaitans (see: Rev. 2, 2, 6). At the beginning of the 2nd century, Bishop Onesimus of Ephesus highly praises Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer for the behavior of his flock, in which there is no heresy 22. According to Saint Ignatius himself, the Ephesians do not succumb to any deceptions 23, do not allow evil teaching to be dispelled and block their ears from it 24. So, considering the various circumstances of the apostolic time, with a very high degree of probability we can talk about the formation of the New Testament canon in Ephesus back in the apostolic time. This education began there under Timothy, who had the closest relations with the most important New Testament writers - the Apostle Paul, the evangelists Luke and Mark. The compilation of the New Testament was completed in Ephesus under the Apostle John the Theologian, who himself was the last writer of New Testament books. With the death of the Apostle John the Theologian, the apostolic time, this exceptional era in the life of the Christian Church, ended. After him, no one could write anything that could, with equal right, be included in the ranks of the New Testament books. The New Testament was written by the apostles. If in it we have two books of the Evangelist Luke and one of the Evangelist Mark, then these books were accepted into the New Testament because the ancient Church saw the Apostle Paul behind Luke, and the Apostle Peter behind Mark. It is very important to recognize this particular formation of the New Testament. If the New Testament was compiled before the eyes and with the direct participation of Timothy and the Apostle John the Theologian, then nothing foreign or inauthentic could penetrate into it. These persons were well aware of the circumstances of the origin of almost each of the 27 New Testament books, since they were closely acquainted with the writers of these books and were united with them in one great and holy work of the Gospel gospel and the establishment of Christ’s Church in the universe. The proposed hypothesis regarding the composition of the New Testament in apostolic times can be considered the property of Russian theological science. The idea of ​​Ephesus as the place of formation of the New Testament canon under the supervision of Timothy and the Apostle John the Theologian was first expressed and comprehensively substantiated by the rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, Archpriest A. V. Gorsky in his short but very informative article: “The formation of the canon of the sacred books of the New Testament” 25. Among Western scholars, some admit that a canon of only four Gospels was compiled in Ephesus under John the Theologian. This idea, in our opinion, deserves the most serious attention. She presents the formation of the New Testament canon in apostolic times very simply, naturally and incomparably more thoroughly than is done by Western scholars, who are so much involved in the history of the New Testament canon. Among Western scholars, the formation of the New Testament canon usually dates back to the second half of the 2nd century and is considered as one of the details of the general structure of the Catholic Church. According to a common belief among Protestant scholars, the Catholic Church was not founded by Christ and the apostles, but "came into being" during the first two centuries, the norms of Catholic organization and hierarchical structure of the Church being originally outlined in Rome. As one of the details of the catholic organization of the Church, a universally binding and precisely defined canon of New Testament books should also have appeared in Rome. Such an opinion about the compilation of the New Testament canon in Rome, without having solid documentary foundations, is the fruit of only a general tendentious idea of ​​the course of church history in the first two centuries, according to which the Church at the end of the 2nd century began to affirm what did not actually happen (the installation of bishops by the apostles and their continuous succession), and to teach on many issues in a sense completely opposite to the one in which it itself taught earlier and in which Christ and the apostles taught. Such a presentation of ancient church history is unacceptable for an Orthodox member of the Church, 26 and without this presentation, almost all meaning and the opinion that the New Testament canon was formed in Rome, where there was not such a favorable combination of circumstances as it was in Ephesus in apostolic times, were lost. New Testament in Apostolic Time Published according to the edition: The New Testament in Apostolic Time. - Christian. Sergiev Posad, 1916, No. 1. Signed: Archimandrite Hilarion. The author once again focuses on the Holy Scripture as a manifestation of the grace-filled life of the Church. In this article, Archimandrite Hilarion supports his theological understanding of the place of Holy Scripture in the Church of Christ with historical evidence. Based on the primary sources of the Apostolic century, Archimandrite Hilarion studies the place of the books of the New Testament in the Christian Church, concluded in the 4th century by church authority in the canon of Holy Scripture. See: Iren. Contra haer. III, 14, 1; Ibid. III, 10, 1. Tertull. Adv. Marc. IV, 2. Tertull. Adv. Marc. IV, 5: "Lucae digestum Paulo adscribere solent." Orig. ap. Eusebius. Historia ecclesiastica. VI, 25, 6. See: Acts. 12, 12; Col. 4.10; Flm. 1, 24. Compare: Jude. Art. 3 and 2 Pet. 1, 5; 2, 21st. 4 and 2 Pet. 2, 1 word; art. 5 and 2 Pet. 1, 12; art. 6 and 2 Pet. 2, 4, 9; art. 7 and 2 Pet. 2, 6, 10;st. 8 and 2 Pet. 2, 10 ;st. 9 and 2 Pet. 2, 11; Art. 10 and 2 Pet. 2, 12;st. 11 and 2 Pet. 2, 15; art. 12 and 2 Pet. 2, 13, 17; Art. 13 and 2 Pet. 2, 17; art. 16 and 2 Pet. 2, 10, 18; art. 17 and 2 Pet. 3, 2 ;st. 18 and 2 Pet. 3, 3, 18; Art. 24 and 2 Pet. 3, 14; Art. 25 and 2 Pet. 3, 18. Eusebius. Historia ecclesiastica. V, 20, 5–6. Contra haer. II, 22, 5; Ibid. III, 3, 4. Eusebius. Historia ecclesiastica. III, 23, 1–2. De praescr. 32. Cfr.: Ibid. 36. Devir. III, 9. See also: Gregory the Theologian's word 33 (Creations. Part 3. M., 1889. P. 143); John Chrysostom on John's conversation 2, 2 (Creations. T. 8. P. 14); on Acts conversation 34, 3 (Ibid. T. 9. P. 307); to Ephesus. preface (Ibid. T. 11. P. 5). The Syriac translation after the Gospel of John has the following postscript: באכסוס שלס אוגגליק קדישא כרו װ תא ךיוחק דמלל יונאיה – the Gospel of the saint ended preacher John, spoken in Ionic in Ephesus. See also: Tischendorf. NT 8, 1, 967. Eusebius. Historia ecclesiastica. VI, 25, 6. Devir. ill. 9.0 Theodore of Mopsuet also speaks to the brethren’s request to write down what is necessary. Comment in In. PG. T. 66. Col. 728. 1John 2:1, 12, 28, 4:4, 5:21. Addition to the publication of the works of the holy fathers. 1871. Part 24. pp. 297–327. An analysis of the prevailing view in the Protestant environment on the “origin” of the Catholic Church is available in the book by V. Troitsky. Essays on the history of the dogma of the Church. Sergiev Posad, 1912. Special. gl. 3 and 4. pp. 109–360. You might be interested in: